Susan Brewer
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t own a doll. Even as a baby I had a cloth Baby Bunting doll, which was very fashionable at the time, and I suppose I must have had a dozen or so composition and hard plastic dolls (not including the miniatures in my dolls house), before it was time to ‘give them up as I was a big girl now’. Luckily, I managed to secrete a few favourites in the back of the drawer before the rest were binned, as was the custom in the 1960s. I switched to collecting costume dolls – that was allowed as it didn’t seem babyish – until the 1980s when the birth of a daughter gave me an excuse to buy dolls again!
I have been writing since the 1980s; before that I worked in libraries, so books have always been in my blood. I began with short stories for women’s magazines and articles on natural history. Then I reasoned that as I had so many dolls perhaps I should research them and write about my findings. My articles appeared in various collectable and doll magazines. In 2006 I became Editor of Doll Magazine, published by Ashford, for a couple of years before the title was sold to America. However, Doll Showcase, founded in 2004, kept me busy - and it still does!
My first venture into the world of books (apart from a children’s educational book called Mike’s Bike) was ‘Tiny Tears and First Love’ in 2005, an in-depth guide to two types of baby dolls which were then very popular in the UK. There are still a few copies in print. Since then, I’ve written many more books including several titles for the publishers Pen and Sword. My two latest doll books are Delightful Dolls Volume 1 and Cornish Shallowpool Dolls, both published by Virtual Valley. Nowadays, I also write fiction, which many people seem to enjoy.
If you are interested in any of my books they are available from www.amazon.co.uk or can be purchased direct from Doll Showcase info@britishdollshowcase.co.uk